Sony are dropping the price of the PS2 in North America, and across all of Europe, except for the UK.

I'm sure very few people actually care about a PS2 pricedrop at this stage, but since A) there is no backwards compatible PS3 available in the UK, and B) PS2s do break, especially older models, it would certainly be nice for them to be cheaper.

No reason for them not dropping the price here has been given, so here is a fictitious response from an imaginary Sony spokesperson.

"The recent international price drop for the PS2 console gives consumers an excellent value proposition, there are nearly 1,900 titles available for the system, and new games keep coming out regularly. We decided not to drop the price in the UK, because we realised that we could get a lot more money by not doing, and we really like money, so we want as much of it as possible.

Luckily, the vast majority of UK consumers will not know that they are being charged more than pretty much everyone else around the world, so people will keep happily buying them."

Funnily enough, it's actually the PS3 that is overpriced right now, but there is no word on a price drop for that either.

If and when they do decide to drop either the PS2 or PS3 price here, I will let you know.

We're back! Except, not quite. We're testing the water with a new format for the show, and we'd love to hear your feedback. Each show we'll have a Big Issue segment in which we'll pick something to talk about and discuss it. Agree with us? Disagree? Let us know. This week - why people put down or finish games.Enjoy!

The podcast contains spoilers for BioShock (9:55-11:54), GTAIV (27:06-33:55), Gears of War (33:55-38:41).

If you want to comment on our thoughts about completing games (or not), please comment, or email me at willeth@gmail.com.

Update: I just listened back to the podcast, and I appear to have said that HMV will pricematch their web site in store. This is not true, I misheard Willeth, I thought he was asking if PC World pricematch HMV online. Sorry for any confusion - LewieP

So, wrestling eh? You either love it or you hate it. Me, I think it’s ok, as long as you accept the fact that it’s just a soap opera for boys. The acting is terrible and the plots are weak, but for some inexplicable reason it still manages to draw me in with its implausible story lines and over-the-top circus theatre. This game takes us to the so-called ‘Golden Age’ of the World Wrestling Federation Entertainment of the 1980s and 90s, back when the fights were real and the best man really did win (sub please check).

Let’s get it straight from the onset; this is a niche title. I know it sounds strange to say it, due to the global outreach of the WWE brand, but it’s not going to entice anyone in who doesn’t already have an interest in this particular division of ‘sports entertainment’. However, for those fans out there who have slowly lost interest in the over-complex Smackdown vs Raw offerings that require you to have the brainpower of Stephen Hawking in order to remember combos, you’ll be pleased to know that WWE Legends has been pared back and is a lot simpler to get to grips with. This doesn’t mean it is simplistic, however. You can still perform a variety of strikes, grapples, irish whips, clotheslines etc, but it all seems a lot less bewildering when you first pick it up. You’ll soon be suplexing like Mr Perfect and chest-chopping like Ric Flair himself.

The basic game works in a similar fashion to other wrestling games; the more successful moves you perform, the more your opponent’s energy bar will deplete. When it’s been depleted far enough, you will be able to pin or make them submit. Where this game differs is that it introduces a levelling system. You start on Level 1 and can progress up to Level 3, where you can then perform your finishing move with a couple of button presses. As you level up, your attacks become stronger, and you become more resilient. When initiating special moves and and certain grapples, you are presented with a quicktime event, where you have to press two or three face buttons during the move in order to complete it. Yes, yes, I can hear you groaning already about the QTEs, but for this type of game it doesn’t seem to break the flow of the action. When you complete your special move (or fail it), you then drop back down to Level 2, and have to work your way back up again. There’s the obligatory button-mashing when it comes to getting yourself back up after a fall, or trying to escape from a pin, but thankfully it’s not too frequent.

From what I’ve described so far, it sounds like this is a decidedly average fighting game, and that’s mainly because no matter which way you dress it up, it is. Compared to something like Street Fighter IV, it really doesn’t cut the mustard, but wrestling games (much like its real-life counterpart) have never only been about what happens inside the ring. Where this game really begins to shine is in the presentation. Each venue from the original WrestleMania right up to XV have been painstakingly recreated to the very last detail; even down to the miniature rings that combatants entered in at WrestleMania III.

Much has been made of the ‘Relive, Rewrite, Redefine’ modes. They are set out in chronological tiers, where you unlock a match once you have won the previous one (attaining a gold medal if you manage to fulfill a number of objectives. ‘Relive’ is in some ways the most restrictive mode, where you have to re-enact moments that actually happened in the match. For example, in Hulk Hogan’s cage match with King Kong Bundy from WrestleMania 2, you earn extra points for irish whipping Bundy into the cage wall and busting him open. Additional points are gained from preventing him from exiting the cage through the door (twice, as in the real match), and then escaping over the top. However, it must be stated that performing these feats are optional, only if you’re interested in collecting the gold medals. You can unlock the next match by simply winning the bout.

‘Rewrite’ (or ‘Totally Changing Time’) pits you against a winner of a particular match from history, instructing you to change the course of history. Again, it gives you objectives to complete, but they tend to be more general, such as performing a move off the top turnbuckle or getting your opponent into a strong grapple. The ‘Redefine’ mode is very similar to ‘Rewrite’, but match rules are changed (changing a ladder match to a Hell in a Cell, for example).

The character creation mode from SvRi is still prevalent, and you can enter your lycra-clad goon into the ‘Legend Killer’ mode, where you face off against six tiers of WWE superstars to become—you guessed it—a legend killer. For those of you with SvR2009, you can even import characters from there. So if you’ve always wanted to pit Cody Rhodes against his dad, then you can finally fill your boots.

With regards to the roster, almost everyone is there: from Greg ‘The Hammer’ Valentine to ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin; Andre the Giant to Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts—even younger versions of The Undertaker and Triple H. The only notable exceptions I can think of are Chris Benoit and Owen Hart, but that’s kind of understandable, really. The likenesses are generally very good (even though some of them have been made far musclier than in real life). The only strange one is Shawn Michaels—his face just doesn’t look anything like him.

Manager interference is new to the series. Before you’d have to go outside the ring to hit them, but now they interject just when you want them to (or not, depending on whether they’re on your side). This can get a little frustrating when you think you’re nailed on for a pin and Bobby Heenan grabs his guy’s leg and sticks it on the rope, but it’s all part of the show, so it’s hard to grumble. You can even go over to your manager when you’re low on energy, and he’ll refill it for you (losing a level in the process).

So in summary, should this game pique your curiosity if you’ve never held any interest in watching men in their pants pretending to hit each other before? No, but to those who are still reading this, dare I say it; this could be the best wrestling game I’ve ever played. Whoops, I’ve just damned it with faint praise.

It is billed as being designed for both 360 and PC. The buttons are all the buttons from a 360 pad, but it has a standard USB connector, so you can just plug it str8 into your PC, and it will work gr8. It will require a bit of fiddling to get the controls just right, even in the game that it is billed as being designed for (HAWX).

It costs around £40, and it doesn't quite feel like there is £40 worth of material in the stick. It is a little lightw8 (OK, I will stop now, I think I made my point), and a little plasticy. The click of the trigger button (mapped to A) is just the right type of feedback you want from a firing button.

The cover for the X button is a pretty cool touch too. There is a cover to protect you from accidentally pressing the X button, like in real military aircraft. In practice I left it open, but depending on how much you role play your games, it is a good option to have.

The throttle lever is solid, it is mapped to the right trigger, it gives you really precise control over throttle, and makes coming out of stalls in HAWX not only easier, but a lot more fun too.

The stick is a real strong point of the Aviator. It has a solid action, and is also a twiststick, giving 15 degrees of rudder control by twisting the stick.

In addition to the main stick, there is two additional sticks, one on top, and one silly little "nub" on the base. Good for text entry on the 360.

Oddly enough there is a headphone port. I can't actually imagine what it would be used for, since a 360 headset won't work with it, and last time I checked, most PCs already have a headphone port. It is also a real shame to loose out on rumble.

All in all, I prefer playing flight sims with this stick over a standard 360 controller, so in that regard it is a success. It feels a little cheap, and the name is stupid, but as an all in one Console/PC flightstick, it does the job.

This is a 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand review, and so you're probably expecting to hear all about how, oh, it's quite a good game actually. That it's sort of a mix of Gears of War and The Club, and it's very aware of its audience and what it is, and doesn't take itself too seriously.

All of those things hold weight.

But that summary also points out everything that's wrong with Blood on the Sand. It's derivative of other experiences. Yes, it's surprising when you boot it up that it's quite solid, playable, and quite a departure from the abhorrent Bulletproof. But the same thing could be said about the Fantastic Four movie. "Oh, this isn't as bad as I thought it was going to be." And you enjoy it for what it is, but that doesn't make it good. It makes it competent.

At its worst, that's Blood on the Sand. Competent. Swordfish have taken the solid cover shooter mechanics that Unreal Engine 3 provides and built a solid game, that while better than everyone expected, is still nowhere near other similar experiences.

If you are expecting something close to either Gears of War or The Club, you'll probably be disappointed. The cover mechanics of Gears are present, but less elegant. You'll often find yourself popping out of cover the wrong way, or being hit when you feel you should be covered. You'll also miss the ease of Gears, as in BotS you're tethered to specific portions of a piece of cover and will find yourself ineffectively rolling at a wall just a little too often.

While The Club is a close comparison to the scoring system that many have drawn, it's really a little misleading. At a base level, you get points for kills, which is multiplied by more kills in quick succession. As you progress closer to five-in-a-row the timer speed up dramatically, necessitating the fifth kill to be almost instantaneous. However, that's where the similarities end. Where Blood on the Sand really comes into its own, though, is the Scenario system.

Without the Scenario system, Blood on the Sand would be just another shooter. A boring 50 Cent game. Scenarios, however, add pressure. At set moments in the game a pop-up will appear: take out two grenadiers in eight seconds. Collect $30,000 in one minute. Kill all the enemies that have just arrived in a van within twenty seconds. The game's full of these, and if you do them, you get points. You also get an in-game reward, such as more grenades, or explosive and incendiary rounds for your pistol. If you're good enough, you could go through the entire game only completing scenarios and using these bullets. And the payoff from using them is so rewarding, you'll want to go for them. And so, you'll take risks.

Without these risks, the underlying game shows some serious holes. There's no run option, the cover mechanic occasionally has to be fought to work properly, and the AI leaves a lot to be desired. With them, though, the game just works. Each of them is a mini crescendo event that gives you just enough reward to want more without making the game too easy. It's an extremely-well balanced mechanic.

The irritating thing, though, is that as an enthusiast, this mechanic only worked on the hardest difficulty. Even without being the most skilled gamer, I had to step it up to get any sort of challenge, as it's obvious that Blood on the Sand is very aware of that portion of its audience that just want to pick it up and kill people over and over.

And yes, that's what this game excels at - giving you an opportunity to cap some fools without being super serious about it. But there's a deeper level in there that can be really rewarding if you're looking for it.

The Magic Toy Chest is one of those games that if it were a flash based web game would be the talk of the internet. One of those meme like popular games posted on message boards the world over. Because it is one of those games. This game however costs $19.95, the question is, is it worth it?

Developed by Graduate Games, MTC is a physics based puzzle game similar to the Incredible Machine, which if you haven't played, you should. The aim of each level is to get a certain amount of a toy into the eponymous chest, in an attempt to tidy the various rooms of your house, and boy do I wish I had been able to get away with tidying my room like this, because this is fun.

Most levels start with the relatively simple task of locating all the keys to open your Magic Toy Chest, from here though things get a little tougher. The aim is to relocate a certain toy from where it currently reside to the MTC. Easier said than done. The idea is to set up the toys you have access to and use them to move the desired toy into the chest. There is a good number of different toys to choose from, each with individual actions to help you with your chores, the rocket can be set up and shot into the air, the ball, err, rolls, and the jumping dog, well, jumps. A clever aspect of this is if you happen to get any of the extra toys in the level into the box, not only do you get bonus points, but you get to use these to solve the puzzle.

One area where MTC varies from similar games is the real time set up, a lot of these games require you to set everything and then press go and see if it works, MTC does not, so you can see if you reactions are faster than gravity. Fortunately, so this doesn’t get frustrating, a simple tap of the space bar pauses the game time so you can set up and then un-pause, if required. This aspect makes for a bit more variation in the solving of puzzles.

Sadly there are few rather obvious bugs. Some levels start and pieces of the puzzles simply fall away as they aren't attached properly. Other times objects pass straight through others, or the object shape doesn't match the collision edge. Frustrating as these are, they aren't really gamebreakers, but possibly the most fundamental issue with this game is that a number of the laws of physics simply aren't obeyed. Friction has no place in this game, gravity is only loosely adhered to, and momentum ignored in place of an objects preset placement ability.

Even better than this though is when the toy truck causes a warp in the space time continuum and makes gravity fluctuate. Fun as this is, it is a pretty large flaw in a game billing itself as a physics based game.

Unfortunately, it is this which leaves the lasting impression not the puzzles, the frustration which comes with a puzzle not working because a piece floats through another, or won’t stop moving is greater than the fun aspect of the game, and this is a shame, as MTC is actually fun, but so are a lot of free games out there.

The fact there is a skip function shows that a lot of thought has been put into the game, it is the output which is flawed, not the concept, I look forward to seeing more from Graduate Games in the future.

MTC is a fun but flawed physics based game which is wholly suitable for children and may appeal to parents who want to limit children’s access to the internet for similar games.

“Due to the severe and continuing depreciation of the pound, we are, unfortunately, having to raise our trade price to UK retailers of Wii hardware,” a Nintendo UK spokesperson told MCV. The price that they then offer to consumers is, of course, up to the retailers. We are only – reluctantly – raising our trade price now to retailers due to unprecedented and sustained depreciation of the pound. This is a problem brought about by extreme currency fluctuations that are a symptom of the global economic situation.”

MCV say that the increase will be "£19 including VAT".

Nintendo also spoke to Gamesindustry.biz about increasing the price retailers are charged for new Software:

"The final price in the shops is always up to retailers but we will not be increasing the trade price of existing Wii or DS software. However, the trade prices for new titles yet to be released may rise as a result of the depreciation of the pound."

It's hard to know exactly how to feel about this. On the one hand, it certainly is true that the GBP has had a pretty rough time recently. But historically, any time that Nintendo has had the opportunity to charge us Brits more, it has done, regardless of what global currency markets have been doing.

I guess I'll be doing what I always do, try to keep track of the best deals. Since the RRP is not changing, I imagine it will be possible to buy the console for £180 still pretty regularly. Shopping around can get you one for £166.37 right now, but it's hard to imagine they will be readily available for much less than £180 in the future if Nintendo are raising the price by £19. It's pretty crazy to say this, but maybe if you plan to get a Wii any time in the next 6 months, you will probably not be able to do better than £166.37, so maybe think about buying one sooner, rather than later.

As for the DSi, I think it's pretty overpriced already, but at least they aren't increasing the price any further. Amazon are taking pre-orders for £144.97, in both black and white flavor, which is the best price so far. I imagine there will be some good deals on the DS lite when the DSi does come out next month.

And software - How do people feel about imported software. I occasionally link good deals on imported region free software on the DS or 360, but I might consider doing so for the Wii too if there was interest. The thing is, if Nintendo does charge more for software, it is unlikely that the RRP will go up, retailers will more likely just discount less frequently. Less discounts means less bargains.

If I were to post a guide for how to make Wii consoles region free, would people be interested in me widening the net to imported Wii software from reliable import retailers?

"It's very bad. If it's true that they want to increase it by £18 then there is no margin for us at all. It's very disappointing because we believed that after two years the Wii machine would get cheaper rather than more expensive - I've heard that this is the first time in history that the price has gone up for a machine after two years.

If you look at the history, the pound was higher [against the Euro] and they've been making quite a percentage more of money, so now they can take the loss rather than increase the price. Plus it goes against the economy, in England we have job losses and all this, which makes it increasingly difficult to afford a machine - this doesn't help them. I'm concerned about the software, maybe the software could go up. I don't think it should."

"It's a first. I can't remember any other console that has been launched, been on the market for a couple of years and then gone up in price. It's an absolute first. I half expected it, I can see their reasons why and there are reasons which are perfectly valid in today's market place - the Pound has been dropping against the Euro for a while now and it shows no sign of bouncing back.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but I think Nintendo could have sold all the machines that they have done at the GBP 199 price point, because we've effectively had shortages from day one, pretty much all the way through. There's never ever been quite enough stock in the market place, each Christmas we come to there's always stock shortages.

It will have a negative effect on the sales... I think we'll still end up with shortages come Christmas again, but through the summer it's going to have an effect. It wouldn't be unrealistic to expect similar price rises across the whole Nintendo range. I don't think any retailer has got the ability to soak up that sort of margin change, I think I saw one story that said the supermarkets wouldn't be passing the price point on but I think they will. I don't think any retailer can take that sort of squeeze."

This game is pretty much a must play, especially at that low price. I would say that having played both versions, I prefer it on the Wii, but it is excellent whichever platform you play it on. My review is here.

The Hut are offering 10% off games with the use of the code "newlook10". There is also £2 taken off the whole basket during checkout if you spend £20 or more, so if you are getting several items, try to order them into groups of as many separate £20+ transactions as possible. Here are some of the highlights:

Origin of SavyGamer

The idea behind SavyGamer is simple: Everyone has a budget and the best way to push that budget is to shop smart.

There are tonnes of pricebots about (froogle, kelkoo, you know them all) and I'm not about to substitute them, they do a fine job. I post what I think are quality deals, good games/gaming related equipment that is a good deal at the asking price.

Where applicable, I will post referral links. These links will lead to me getting commission from the retailers, often varying between 1 and 10%. There is no change in price for you, but if you prefer not to use referral links then you only need to browse the homepage of the retailer and search for the item.

If you ever want to submit a deal, or request a good deal on a specific game, email me at LewieP@savygamer.co.uk, and I will do my best to help you out.